Why Is The Pregnancy-Related Death Rate In Texas The Highest In The US?

Texas has a problem that is suspiciously unique to the states – as reported by the Associated Press, it has the highest pregnancy-related death rate in not just the US, but the entirety of the developed world with the exception of Mexico.

Citing a study by the University of Maryland looking at maternal mortality rates across all US states and territories, it is being reported (accurately) that the nationwide rate has increased from 18.8 per 100,000 live births in the year 2000 to 23.8 in 2014, a near-27 percent increase. California’s rate has dropped from 21.5 to 15.1 in the last decade or so, but plenty of states have seen the rate jump up – most notably in Texas.

The Lone Star State, between the year 2000 and 2010, saw the rate slowly increase from 17.4 to 18.6. Dramatically, between 2010 and 2014, it jumped to 35.6, a truly remarkable and distressing figure. It’s being widely reported that the change was due to funding cuts to reproductive health clinics, but what’s the truth behind the story?

It’s no secret that GOP lawmakers generally have an agenda against reproductive care. Repeated and flagrant attempts to ban abortion clinics and defund Planned Parenthood, for example, make the headlines at least once every few months. It’s also true, of course, that this has a direct impact on the public’s health.

Texas maternal mortality rates. MacDorman et al./Obstet Gynecol 2016

Back in 2011, as a Congressman, Vice President Mike Pence helped the House pass an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood, which is a top provider of contraceptives. During his first year as Governor of Indiana, he closed Scott County’s only Planned Parenthood Clinic, which meant there was nowhere else for residents to get sexual healthcare or tests.

It’s not surprising then that people have linked the defunding of reproductive health clinics in GOP-governed Texas to skyrocketing maternal mortality rates.

Curiously, during the recent doubling of death rates, legislators also failed to vote on measures that would directly address this problem due to Republican infighting. Several key women’s health clinics were also closed during this period of time.